Verbo

Something between teenage fantasy, horror, a help line, a lively guide for young suicides and a moralist hip-hop track a la Majk Spirit. At the same time, the film is clearly activist and aims at a sensitive youth that is losing perspective in Spain and walking through ghost towns without a vision of hope. Somehow I feel that it will appeal to an unbiased observer who appreciates (unfulfilled) ambitions rather than teenagers, for whom it will be more like indigestible compulsory reading (but of course I understand their fart mentality, so...). Classic Spanish pathos, maneuvering on the edge of the genre and a few quite good moments. I have no reason to condemn it, although I wouldn't call it a good film, either. (29/08/2013)

The original idea that this Spanish study in introversion is reaching towards is lovely, touching, and essentially very commendable. However, due to the story's mysterious twists and turns, the message ends up sounding very convoluted and to me even sends the opposite message. In other words, the warning against suicide ultimately does not carry enough impact; instead, it almost seems to present it as an adventure you can find the way back from with enough daring. In the world of vulnerable teenagers that Eduardo Chapero-Jackson is clearly targeting, I consider this a dangerous weapon. I don't know, maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill instead of simply enjoying Sara's story. Nevertheless, the entire metaphorical concept seems too transparent to me, while the boundary between realism and the dreamlike perspective is somewhat unreadable. (02/09/2013)

Verbo é um filme terrivelmente bizarro e sem precedentes, infelizmente sem sucesso. Gostaria de ser uma história muito pensada e epicamente fantástica sobre uma heroína que luta para salvar a sua vida, e, ao mesmo tempo, uma declaração geracional rica em interpretações de significado contendo muitas mensagens transcendentais. Mas ao fazê-lo, confronta-se com um orçamento insuficiente, a inexperiência dos cineastas, e um argumento embaraçosamente ingénuo cheio de monólogos banais que provavelmente deveriam estar cheios de ideias filosóficas profundas, mas que se apresentam como excertos de um folheto de um centro de recuperação de toxicodependentes para jovens viciados. (04/10/2013)

I like weird films and Verbo is definitely a weird film. On the one hand, it’s realistic, but on the other, imagination is involved that is rather darker in nature. I'm not saying the story is outright good, it's not, but the visuals do have something to them that makes this an interesting experience. (03/10/2017)